- The sons of Simeon were Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul: Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. And the sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.
- And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brethren had not many children, neither did all their family multiply like to the children of Judah. And they dwelled at Beersheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual, and at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad, and at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag, and at Bethmarcaboth, and Hazarsusim, and at Bethbiri, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities unto the reign of David. And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan — five cities — and all their villages that were round about the same cities, unto Baal. These were their habitations and their genealogy.
- And Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Joshah the son of Amaziah, and Joel, and Jehu the son of Josibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel, and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah, and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah, and Ziza the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah. These mentioned by their names were princes in their families, and the house of their fathers increased greatly. And they went to the entrance of Gedor, even unto the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks.
- And they found fat pasture, and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable, for they of Ham had dwelled there of old; and these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and smote their tents and the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelled in their place because there was pasture there for their flocks.
- And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon — five hundred men — went to Mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, and they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelled there unto this day.
- Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but forasmuch as he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the son of Israel; and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright, for Judah prevailed above his brethren and of him came the chief ruler, but the birthright was Joseph’s). The sons, I say, of Reuben the firstborn of Israel, were Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
- The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, Beerah his son (whom Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria carried away captive) — he was prince of the Reubenites.
- And his brethren by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned, were: the chief Jeiel, and Zechariah, and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelled in Aroer, even unto Nebo and Baal-Meon. And eastward he inhabited unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates, because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead. And in the days of Saul, they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand, and they dwelled in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead.
- And the children of Gad dwelled next to them, in the land of Bashan unto Salecah: Joel the chief, and Shapham the next, and Janai, and Shaphat, in Bashan. And their brethren of the house of their fathers were Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jacan, and Zia, and Eber — seven. These are the children of Abihail the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz — Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, chief of the house of their fathers.
- And they dwelled in Gilead, in Bashan and in her towns, and in all the suburbs of Sharon upon their borders. All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
- The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men — men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skillful in war — were forty-four thousand seven hundred sixty that went out to the war. And they made war with the Hagrites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab. And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them; for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated of them because they put their trust in him. And they took away their cattle — of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred fifty thousand, and of asses two thousand — and of men a hundred thousand, for there fell down many slain because the war was of God. And they dwelled in their steads until the captivity.
- And the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelled in the land. They increased from Bashan unto Baal-Hermon and Senir, and unto Mount Hermon. And these were the heads of the house of their fathers: even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel — mighty men of valor, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers.
- And they transgressed against the God of their fathers and went whoring after the gods of the people of the land whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and he carried them away — even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh — and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.
Chapter 3